Adjustable Apron

I wear aprons all the time, and I’m not kidding when I say “all the time”. My typical at-home outfit involves a bandana to keep my hair back and an apron to keep at bay all of the thread and fabric fuzz that follow me everywhere. When friends stop by unexpectedly they are always surprised by my house frau attire, but nobody wants a lint brush for a best friend!

As you might imagine, I have a good collection of aprons, many of them vintage and quite feminine. Some of my favorites include a pink one from the 50s made out of a feedsack and one with ruffles and a pie shaped pocket that my sister made for me. Even though I love them all, these fanciful aprons don’t come in very handy when it’s time to roll up my sleeves and get messy in the kitchen, nor does my husband really appreciate his options. So I decided to make a rugged, adjustable apron for both of us to use in the kitchen. It’s big enough to be worn by a 6 foot tall guy but can easily be folded up to fit a 5 foot 4 gal like myself. Plus the no-nonsense styling means neither of us will risk batter-splattered ruffles!

The Adjustable Apron is an update of a pattern I designed way back in 2008 called the BBQ Apron. Although this version is perfect for Labor Day grilling, its classic design and super simple construction make it useful well beyond the BBQ pit. I used some amazing new fabric, Kokka Canvas Ticking, which seems like it was born to be an apron. It’s both soft and strong and will wear and wash beautifully. I love its classic denimy feel and its subtle colors. Best of all this apron is beyond simple to make. It’s so easy that I think I might make two so my husband and I don’t have to share!

(P.S. The beautiful wooden spoons in the pictures above can be found at Timber from Live Wire Farm right here.)

Update: February 2012

In February 2012 we made a a new version of this fantastic apron! For more images of the new version plus the pattern for the matching dishtowels, click here.

Materials

For the Original Adjustable Apron

1 1/4-yard Kokka Canvas Ticking in Navy Thick for the body of the apron. (This particular fabric is no longer available, but please check out all of our current upholstery weight fabrics for some great alternatives!)

1/2-yard of Kokka Canvas Ticking in Navy Thin for the pocket. (This particular fabric is no longer available, but please check out all of our current upholstery weight fabrics for some great alternatives!)

Pattern

Marking and Cutting

Press the main body fabric in half lengthwise, selvedge to selvedge. Trim the top of the fabric so it makes a clean 90 degree angle with fold.

Using tailors chalk or an erasable fabric marker make a 1-inch vertical mark at the top of the fabric, 6 1/2-inches from the fold. This is mark A and is shown in red in the picture above.

Place a pin along the fold, 17-inches from the top of the fabric. This is mark B.

Make a mark using the chalk 13-inches from the fold and directly perpendicular to mark B. This is mark C.

Make a mark on the fold 20-inches below mark B. This is mark D.

Make a mark 20-inches vertically below mark C. This is mark E.

Using the chalk connect these marked lines together with straight lines as shown in red above, going from the bottom of mark A diagonally to mark C, then down to mark E and over to mark D.

Cut the apron out following along these lines. Here is a picture of it cut out but still folded down the middle.

Cut a 17-inch by 10-inch rectangle, with the stripes running horizontally for the pocket.

Sewing the Apron

Unfold the main apron piece.

Using the darker thread hem the top and straight sides by folding them over 1/2-inch twice towards the wrong side and edge stitching the folds down.

Hem the bottom in the same manner.

Zig zag stitch along the diagonal sides.

Press the diagonal sides down 1/4-inch to the wrong side and edge stitch them down.

Press the diagonal sides down 1-inch to the wrong side and edge stitch them down. This will form a scant 1-inch channel along the diagonal sides that the cotton webbing will be threaded through later.

Attaching the Pocket

Hem the top of the pocket by pressing it down 1/2-inch twice towards the wrong side and edge stitching the fold down.

Zig zag stitch along the three other sides.

Press the right and left sides towards 1/2-inch towards the wrong side and then press the bottom edge up 1/2-inch towards the wrong side as well.

Tuck the extra fabric of the corners inside of the pressed folds forming little miters as shown above.

Press the pocket flat.

Pin the bottom, left, and right sides of the pocket to the main apron panel, 2 1/2-inches below where the diagonal sides start and 4 1/4-inches from either side. Make sure it’s straight and centered.

Edge stitch the pocket on around the left, right, and bottom sides.

Using a Hera Marker or erasable fabric marker mark vertically along the pocket 3 1/2-inches from the left side and then 3 1/2-inches to the left of that mark.

Sew along these marks to form two pocket divisions for cooking tools.

Adding the Tie

Cut the cotton webbing to be 97-inches long.

Press the ends 1/2-inch to the wrong side twice.

Using the off white thread edge stitch these folds down.

Using a knitting needle or another long sharp opject pull one end of the webbing through the bottom left diagonal channel with the wrong side of the apron facing up.

When you reach the top of the apron turn pull the webbing out at the top and turn the apron to the right side. Being careful not to twist it thread the webbing into the opposite diagonal channel from the top, pulling it all the way through to the bottom of the channel.

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138 Responses to Adjustable Apron

I am new to sewing and want to make a Dr Who apron for my boss, who is a gourmet cook. He is 6’4″ and weighs 420 pounds. Needless to say he can’t fit in a store bought apron! So can you give me suggestions to modify? Dimensions? Amount of fabric I’d need? Thanks!

We made a similar pattern for our church crafters, now we want to make some for in the kitchen. My problem is that when the craft ladies put on the apron, they put it over their heads and the tie pulls right out of the casing. Any ideas to help us from having this happen?

Hi I love this tutorial but I want to make solid ties and neck. What measurements would I use for the ties around my back if I wasn’t treading them through. Enough to tie around an average size woman. Thanks!!

I have made 2 of these now, one for myself and one for my boyfriend. I got a full yard of the pocket fabric and was able to make a whole other apron body. Although folding the body material in half selvedge to selvedge is easiest for alignment, it seemed wasteful to break the fabric into two smaller pieces rather than one larger piece. I used the body material from the first apron as the pocket of my second apron instead of making 2 identical aprons. I am 5’7″ and I guess I have a short torso but I prefer my tie being above my love handles and with the given dimensions it tied around my bum. With some adjustments the aprons look great and the guide was east to follow. I would suggest to someone making their first apron to measure on yourself as you go and adjust the pattern to suit your needs 🙂

Thank you for writing in! We are delighted that you were inspired by our pattern and were able to make 2 aprons with little waste! Thank you for your suggestions, I am certain someone in our crafting community will appreciate your insight! Again, thank you!

I didn’t take the time to read all previous comments so I may be repeating a suggestion that helps me. I HATE threading anything through a casing but have found various sizes of safety pins work the best. Just pin one to an edge and insert into the casing. You just pull on the fabric and push the pin along. Nothing catches or pops a hole in the fabric as some knitting needle or even store bought aids might. LOVE this pattern! Thanks.

Just finished up this apron…. it looks FANTASTIC. I am however, having a bit of an issue with my webbing. I think perhaps the webbing I purchased it’s too thin?? It is traveling very easily through the apron and the weight of the apron when putting it on causes the apron to slide down the webbing. Do you have any suggestions or should I just search for some better/thicker webbing??

I’m so glad you like your apron! I doubt you bought the wrong sized webbing, or even if you did it’s an easy enough fix! You can either sew over your channel a 1/4-inch in from your original stitch line to make the channel thinner, or you can tack the webbing on one side of the channel. For this option I would sew the webbing in place to the channel at the point where it comes out to tie at the waist, just make sure it’s long enough to tie comfortably.

I hope this makes sense. Please let me know if you have any more questions!

The apron looks so lovely and I absolutely want to give it a try!
I am however having a tricky time with the inches, my country uses the metric system and I am a bit lost as to how to convert the measurements to cm, would it be easy to make a version in cm?

Thanks for writing in! Switching from inches to cm should be fairly easy. If you google “converting inches to cm”, a handy convertor comes up that you can type inches into and get the resulting cm measurement!

A few things: Too long overall, and the spot where the tie comes out is way too low (I had to go back and move it up 5 inches. I would also make the space across the front not as wide because it bows out on me when it’s on.
Cool design otherwise!

I love this apron pattern and will make at least one for my husband who is quite tall and needs a rugged one for grilling. I’ll probably make another one for me for those times I’m canning, which can be quite messy. Although I have several aprons I’ve made myself plus a few gift aprons, I want one that I don’t mind getting stained with tomato juice, etc. I especially like the way you made the neck strap portion so adjustable which is a problem with other aprons that don’t have time consuming adjustable fasteners (for those who make their own). Thank you!

Thanks for writing in! This is not a traditional paper pattern and as such there is no pdf or paper pattern to print out. The cutting instructions are included in the top of the pattern. You will chalk in the pattern based on the measurements and the cutting layout. Let me know if you have any other questions — I’d be glad to help!

Thank you for the great pattern. I just made a denim apron for my son in law for Christmas. After reading all of th comments I added on inch in lenght to accommodate his height. It looks good.
Happy Mother in law

Thanks for reaching out! On the adult version of this lovely apron, the 1 inch mark is to give you room to fold down and sew the top seem before sewing the side channels that will hold the adjustable ties. The children’s version is a bit shorter in top torso area than the adult version and thus we do the straight triangular cut there. The 1 inch mark allows for a touch more of a finished look and gives more space for the longer adult torso!

I like that you explain clearly. Some people don’t do like this. I stay at home because I have depression so I need to do something so I search at this site. And I found this and I’m so happy. I can not afford to attend sewing things with money yet. So this is so cool. May the Good Lord bless you all. Thanks a million.

I’m pretty short and the first apron I made was too long from the top of the bib to the waist. So I made the following adjustments to the pattern:
1. Top of the apron to Point B is 14” (instead of 17”)
2. Point B to point C is 12” ( instead of 13”)
3 . Dimensions of pocket are 16” X 10” (instead of 17” X 10”). Center pocket on apron like in the original pattern.

Hello Lauren,
Thank you for reaching out and sharing your experience with this pattern! I’m happy to hear that in the end it was a success, I’m impressed with your skilled alternations!
Happy Sewing!
-Marilla

Hello Rachel,
Thanks for reaching out! If you’re on a desktop version of the site, you will find a “print” icon in the right column just below the date and tags. If you’re on a mobile version of the site, you will find a “print” icon below the pattern and above the comments.

Follow the easy on-screen instructions to delete whichever parts of the pattern you don’t want to print or save. For example, you may decide to shorten the pattern by omitting certain images or the list of materials. To remove images, click the drop down next to the image icon and change from 100% to 0%.

I am new to sewing and took on this project as one of my first. Directions were excellent and the apron turned out great. It will only be for me and I am small so I plan to cut a few inches off for the next one and would also like to find something with less weight for the ties for a daintier look and feel. Also plan to make more for myself and for gifts to family members. So many possibilities!

I love this pattern! It was very easy to follow and for the most part I’m happy with it, but the straps fall right below my hips rather than the lower part of my back. I’m 5’9 and have a fairly long torso, so I’d just recommend making the slanted part at least a few inches shorter unless you’re at least 6’ or don’t mind folding it up!

Would like to sew the apron for two teen-aged granddaughters as Christmas gifts. One is 5′ 9″, the other approximately 5′ 4″ and both are quite slim. Should I make pattern adjustments for perfect fit? I don’t have their measurements. Looking forward to your reply.

Thanks for reaching out! It sounds like your granddaughters are the same height as an average adult, so I think you could make this one-size-fits-most apron without any adjustments for them. Even if it is a bit large, it’s easy to adjust the waist by tying it tighter, and they can continue to use and appreciate their aprons for many years to come!

Thanks so much for the kind words and for writing in! The finished apron measures about 35 inches from top to bottom after hemming. You can easily fold up the waist when tying the apron on to shorten it, but if you would like to make it a bit shorter to begin with, I would recommend removing length from the bottom rectangle either when cutting out the apron or by making the bottom hem deeper.

Thanks for the tutorial, just what I needed for my niece training in a restaurant to be a manager. 🙂 Made this, however, in all black (her request), including the sash which I made from the same cloth.

Great directions! I made this today using white denim/twill and lemon themed material for the pocket, with green bias tape for the drawstring. It looks store-bought! I love it and I bet my daughter will too. Thank you for the instructions!

Thank you for clear, easy, and so doable directions! I haven’t sewn in years and needed a project to ease me back in. Couldn’t find an apron pattern I liked at local store …so bought fabric there on Friday, and made this in one go Sunday AM. So happy to be back in the saddle.

Thanks for reaching out! You could make this apron in a quilting weight fabric if you wish, but you may find that it doesn’t hang quite the same way ours does. In a simple, straight apron like this, a heavier fabric helps it to lay flat and stay tidy, while a lighter weight fabric may bunch up as you walk and move. It won’t affect the utility of the apron, however!

Thank you for the pattern! I used one 45” half round 1/4” shoelace in a complimentary color, cut in half, stitches into the upper bib corners which hides their raw edges nicely. They wash up nicely too, colorfast.

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